Battlespace 'The Romulan-Earth War' Battle of Cheron

in the mid 22nd century a brutal war rages the fledgling United Earth fights for it's very survival against the enigmatic and aggressive Romulan Star Empire although Romulan victory is far from certain the directs being denied his ultimate objective of Earth Admiral black fighting a ferocious defense of his homeworld nevertheless the war is far from over the Romulans now hold a great swath of human space and its people at their mercy the Raptors talons remain deep set into the flesh of human territory Admiral Archer now faces the daunting task of dislodging his sole wart foe to lift the shadow of Romulan domination the war has only just begun while Earth had been saved from Romulan clutches humanity had nonetheless found itself on the back foot Starfleet had exhausted itself both in terms of morale and material defending earth and in September had little means of launching an offensive for Admiral Archer there was no question the war must go on until the Romulans had been entirely driven from human space unfortunately by September of 2156 Starfleet Command was firmly of the opinion that if an offensive were to be taken on any front it should be against d/dx who had lost much of his fleet at earth however it would be a long time before such an offensive was possible further delays would ensue when on September 24th Starfleet ooh received a message from the Romulan commander offering to negotiate a ceasefire Starfleet Command accepted this offer naively believing that the Romulans were embarking on these negotiations from a position of good faith in reality the Durex used this respite to recover and reinforce a Tau Ceti the negotiations dried into November 6th when they finally fell through after it became clear that the Romulans had no intentions of giving up their captured systems therefore Starfleet Command authorized continued offensive action against the Romulans allowing Archer to continue his offensive against kisara and ordering a new task force under Captain Hernandez to begin an offensive against d/dx Archer was the first to reach his objective arriving at de Nova with a fleet of 15 ships consisting of enterprise and intrepid 7 Daedalus frigates and 3 freedom class destroyers by no means a new ship seeing primary service in the 21 40s as first walk for capable class yet it only saw limited production before Earth transitioned to the newer intrepid and eventually an ex class the freedom class has a length of a hundred and thirty seven metres a width of 68 meters and a draught of 35 meters it is a small ship span by only three decks with a modest crew of sixty-eight it has only light armaments consisting of three pulse cannons and a torpedo launcher well they they were later augmented with phase cannons the true strength of the freedom class lies in its performance during its early career it achieved speeds of up to walk 4.5 with impressive acceleration and at sublight proved extremely quick and agile for this reason Starfleet Command had elected to continue this class during the war utilizing it as a reconnaissance and defense ticket vessel it easily out matching the Romulans sparrows that had hitherto been the bane of Starfleet formations Archer was also supported by an Andorian squadron under the command of Brigadier Shran composed of two kumari heavy cruisers and a Lac shimi class heavy destroyer Archer arrived at Denver on December 1st 21:56 initially the system appeared totally abandoned there was no sign of casada nonetheless Archer advanced cautiously spreading his fleet in a search formation Brigadier Shran holding the starboard flank as Shran squadron passed the mood of Denver 7 the IGS kemal unexpectedly struck a mind suddenly casares sprung into action enacting his trap having deployed his fleet in a honey formation he was able to cover a large area with relatively few ships these small pods of three were each deployed around strategically placed mind clusters before powering down thus hiding themselves from enemy sensors at all but the closest of Rangers this tactic was known as a hernia Tellem the spider's web with Shran unable to advance less he strike more Minds and unable to retreat without abandoning the kemal he was a sitting duck for emelius Tran responded with a volley of torpedoes unfortunately his destroy escort found itself overwhelmed and outmatched by the small nimble sparrows Archer moved to aid his ally but himself struck a mine causing another group of ships to power up Archer was now himself surrounded fortunately for Archer his squadron moved to support him and soon kosaka found himself outnumbered and was forced to retreat under a barrage of missiles Archer halted the fleet and organized a new plan to counteract cassavas tactics he sent forward his freedoms and the niara to scan for enemy mine clusters from which they could estimate Casares position after completing a six-hour sweep the route connaissance squadron reported that the Romulans were likely outnumbered and as such Archer was able to plan his own trap upon detecting the detonation of his mine cluster emelius powered up only to find himself surrounded yet he was undeterred and fired a desperate volley of missiles not at the enemy whether the mine clusters of his allies hoping to get their attention kisara detecting the detonations wasted no time in powering up as he did he soon realized that he had been trapped being engaged simultaneously by Archer and Shran allowing Ramirez to close in on a Malian even then emelius forth stubbornly his Tyrannis heavy crews are taking hits that would have been fatal for most before succumbing suddenly kisara now faced both Ramirez and Archer his support cut off kisara still fought hard and in the last act of defiance detonated his reactor which caught the Colorado in its blast destroying it the two remaining Romulan ships attempted to flee but were pursued and destroyed by the freedom squadron on December 5th captain Hernandez arrived in the Tau Ceti system but was met with stiff resistance with attack after attack being repelled on December 8th Columbia led an ill-fated attack in the confusion she disappeared and was later stated to be lost in action as no wreckage was ever found from December 5th to December 12th Starfleet lost a total of 11 ships attempting to retake Tau Ceti all of which came to North the Durex was going nowhere on December 20th Archer received news of tau ceti Hernandez and Archer had been longtime friends and her death was a blow to Archer indeed Starfleet was a close-knit organization nearly everyone had lost a friend or colleague at Tau Ceti the Dyrdek's did not learn of the events of Denver until December 24th at which point he realized how vulnerable he was all Archer would have to do was turn and capture Calder and he would be been completely cut off and surrounded fortunately with Starfleet morale so low they let the opportunity slip and d/dx escaped to Calder when the fleet took tau ceti on the 25th they knew it was a hollow victory meanwhile Archer now faced a new enemy the once disgraced commander Val d'Or who now had a chance at redemption a chance he would not let slip at the start of 2257 the only consolation was the reopening of supply lines to tell a prime supplies the poor unfortunately desperately needed in the first months of 2157 the Romulans began fortifying their positions with each fleet consisting of 18 ships supported with minefields detection grids and fighters after securing their position at Tau Ceti and de Nova Starfleet began planning a new phase of offensives however the previous offensives had made it abundantly clear that should they do so they would require more ships and a new tactical approach this approach was pioneered jointly by major Balthazar Edison of Mako command and command a Malcolm read of Starfleet the new tactics were based around the idea of aggressive reconnaissance to be composed of two waves the first wave would be composed of lighter ships that would probe and engage enemy defenses the second wave consisting of larger heavier ships would then punch through the weak spot unfortunately this tactic only proved partially effective during the offenses of February and April and proved costly the Romulans used a combination of flexible defense and concave minefields to draw Starfleet cruisers in to kill zones as well as using the tow Varro to outflank the enemy during this period Starfleet lost a total of 27 ships it was clear to archer that nothing short of a master salt would dislodge the Romulan positions Starfleet Command was reluctant to authorize such an assault as it would leave their own defenses perilously thin archers spent the next three months building his forces massing a fleet of 40 ships split between Denver and Tau Ceti on July 20th he launched his offensive codenamed Operation Zhukov a combined fleet of 40 ships from Tau Ceti and de Nova converged on the dynamics in the calvess system if they successfully defeated him that the fleet would then turn to attack valdore in the Tagalog system who would also face an attack by commander Shran it was a bold strategy and if successfully implemented would bring an end to the war by September unfortunately this was not to be despite his numerical advantage Archer was soon bogged down in the colder system he directs continually retreating it's a deeper and increasingly complex layered defenses all the while inflicting casualties on Archer after days of fighting he directs pulled out of Calder having only lost six ships in the battle meanwhile archers grand encirclement plan was shattered when valdore counter-attack against Denver on the 30th of July realizing Archer had left it under strengthen attacking with a raiding squadron of five ships Tran and the local defense ships eventually drove north but not before he destroyed a large amount of the supply depots between painter any further offensives in the near future eventually on September 9th Earth retook toggled valdore only giving token resistance before retreating after two years of occupation all of human space had been retaken many believe the war would finally end with the Romulans being driven back behind their borders but the Romulans had no intention of stopping on December 7th 21:57 a series of raids were launched against outlying human Tellarite and Rigelian colonies where the Romulans made use of their latest weapon the u28 Falcon the Falcon also known by Starfleet as cracker was the newest Romulan light frigate intended to complement and support the Tavera it has a length of 80 metres a width of 98 metres and a draught of 14 metres with a crew of a hundred and twenty it's new engines allowed to reach speeds of up to warp five point six matching the NX class its armament consists of two heavy disruptors and a new long-range Hemlock torpedo launcher as well as having good warp performance improved maneuverable at sublight and was seen as a viable replacement for the u 27 Spano Archer argued that they could only win by taking the fight to the Romulans other members of coalition forces realized that they would be playing right into Romulan hands as such any plans for offensives were put on hold while Starfleet undertook a retrofit program to better counter Romulan tactics these included a new sensor package issued to NX and freedom class vessels that would be able to detect enemy ships even when using sensor screens although they would still be unable to secure a target lock photonic torpedoes and phase cannons were issued fleet wide to improve firepower although the mark five torpedo remained Stafford's weapon of choice several NX class ships also received a secondary home module allowing for a more powerful engine and great carrying capacity a system of formalized supply and logistics was also introduced with je class freighters being used to carry additional fuel and ordnance Starfleet now resembled less of a territorial defense force was a highly modern military organization to match the prestigious and Orion Imperial Guard and by mid 21:58 Starfleet felt confident enough to finally go on the offensive in a plan codenamed Operation Zulu the goal of operation Zulu was to engage and destroy the Romulan battle fleets at Algeron Engelland and Kor by using a series of staggered attacks from Tyrell Kaldur and Tyrone the operation began on May 17th 21:58 unfortunately it faced immediate setbacks due to the more aggressive defense utilized by the Romulans with the path to galorndon core and Algeron swarming with ever more to Varro's and Hawkes interdicting Starfleet's movements operation Zulu was therefore halted On January 2nd 21:59 a new plan was formulated codenamed Operation Cossack in which patrols of NX's and freedoms would seek and destroy Romulan interdiction squadrons clearing the way for an attack ahead of time while it was successful it took longer than expected it wasn't until August 12th that they had secured the surrounding space and even then it was a precarious position and their window of opportunity might close at any point while most presumed to engage the directs and valdore Archer offered a bold suggestion reconnaissance sorties and deep space probes indicated that the Romulans entire front hinged around a single supply hub the system of chair deep in Romulan space Archer argued that if cheran were destroyed the Romulans would be cut off from their supplies and the entire front would collapse perhaps bringing an end to the war while many had reservations it was a far more appealing prospect than continuing along the same path with no end in sight archers plan was approved and it was codenamed Operation Odyssey Archer gathered a fleet of 24 ships consisting of Enterprise Excalibur and Defiant six Intrepid's five freedoms and eight Daedalus and these were then supported by two j-class supply ships even so it was fewer than Archer had hoped for he asked the other coalition members to join but all refused thus on the 1st of October Operation Odyssey began as Archer undertook the three-month voyage to charile during this time star feat launched a new series of offensives to distract the bulk of the Romulan fleet these seemed successful unfortunately in late november admiral val-d'or received a report from the rear echelon patrol and he realized that the Starfleet offensive was but a feint and their true target was cherrim and so he set off in desperate pursuit of Archer archers fleet arrived at cherán on the 3rd of January 2160 he ordered a reconnaissance of the system and planned to attack on the 4th the reports confirmed archers hopes this was indeed the heart of the one effort on the planet's surface was a starbase and numerous mines harvesting uranium uranium and other war materiel in orbit was a space station which seemed to serve as a fuel depot as well as several orbital construction yards unfortunately reconnaissance indicated there were as many as 40 ships in the system it looked increasingly like a one-way voyage fortunately for Archer the Romulan presence in the system was far less formidable than initially believed the local commander was young and inexperienced and had no reason to expect in time the few front-line calibre ships were under construction and the majority of ships present were supply ships heavily damaged cruisers and now obsolete sparrows as the human fleet entered the system panic and confusion set in amongst the Romulan ranks many believing that the front lines had been broken and they attempted to flee the system causing many a collision in the panic and many ships were left isolated and destroyed by the earth fleet after the initial shock and confusion had passed commander tal organized a defense unfortunately he was only able to muster a handful of ships ready for combat and many of these were still damaged nonetheless he endeavoured to hold of the humours for as long as possible after several exchanges of torpedo volleys tal was driven back losing two Tyrannis cruisers and his Spanish scattered by the freedoms soon a gap developed in his line allowed defined to slip through attacked the shipyards fortunately valdore arrived to block his path bringing with him 26 frontline ships including five to Varro's ten Falcons for Verona's and seven sparrows and the battle soon turned in the Romulans favor Archer was outnumbered outgunned and surrounded me defeat loomed suddenly Valdo pulled six ships from the front this move surprised Archer who quickly moved to exploit this opportunity charged a gap in the formation and moving to the station breaking out of the encirclement and forcing val-d'or to fall back excalibur used this opportunity and led a squadron attacking the flank of val-d'or pushing him away from the planet leaving it open to bombardment yet no sooner had Excalibur opened fire than a Romulan patrol arrived in the system and now cut between Excalibur and the rest of the fleet meanwhile Archer was halted in front of the station and was beginning to take casualties additionally many of the ships under tau had reorganized and turned back to reinforce valdore and when three available splinter force returned they looked to overwhelm Archer however this was not to be hot on the heels of the splinter force was a coalition Armada five Andorian warships three Vulcan cruisers and six Tellarite vessels led jointly by Commander Shran Minister Saval and a retired Admiral Brown they had defied the wishes of their government and flew to the support of Archer in one last effort outnumbered the Romulans were now unable to stop the coalition forces the powerful Tyrannis cruisers outgunned by the Vulcans and Andorians the Tellarite walked through and relieved excalibur and the station and dry docks and mines were one by one destroyed even so Valvo fought on even when all was lost his ships were surrounded by the coalition and offered the chance to surrender his final transmission occurred glory to the Empire before his ship was atomized by photonic torpedoes the Battle of cheran was over and soon after so was the war a war that had raged for five long years and a war in which both humanity and the Romulan Empire had lost much the war was traumatic for both peoples a total of a hundred and forty-four thousand died during the war humanity saw over ninety five thousand killed and the Romulans near forty nine thousand many of humanity's fledgling colonies had been snuffed out by the Romulans and the Romulans themselves had lost many of their best and brightest in the conflict and those who returned home vowed vengeance the war ended nothing instead it sowed the seeds of over 200 years of hatred the Romulan Empire now had to come to terms with their defeat by a notion the inferior race prompting them to disappear into a century of isolation meanwhile humanity while scarred ultimately grew from the conflict and now emerged as a major power and cemented its commitment to peace and exploration founding the United Federation of Planets and Starfleet motto was now vindicated ad astra per adversary to the Stars despite adversity [Music]

Channel: Venom Geek Media 98

Views: 368,565

Keywords: Star Trek, Picard, Romulan, Romulans, Enterprise, Romulan War, Romulan earth War, Federation, Freedom class, Idris Elba, Balthazar Eddison, Malcom Reed, Captain Archer, Valdore, D'deridex, Borg, War, Battle, Cheron, TOS, the original Series, Balance of Terror, History, Lore, Documentary, Explained, NX class, Starfleet, Museum, Fan Design, Space Battle Breakdown, Campaign, Analysis, Under the Raptors wings, Scott Bakula, Finale

Id: dKYYlRtKFQ0

Length: 25min 0sec (1500 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 14 2020